Assics-stouto f



M. J. MILMOE.

COATING MECHANISM,

APPLICATION FILED OCT-25; 1915.

1,315,740; PatollfedSept. 9, 191.9.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

M. J. MILMOE.

COATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.25. I916.

Patented Sept. 9,1919

2 SHEET -SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

llttICI-IAELJ'. MILMOE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO 1 1B. B 'EDIlIN'GTON' COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

Original application filed January 18, 1915, Berial No. 2,887. Divided and this application filed October 25,

' 1916. Serial No. 127,617. v

[ all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, MICHAEL J; MiLMon, a citizen of the United States,residing, at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Coating- Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This application is a division of my copendinn' application for patent on automatic labeling machines, Serial No. 2,887, filed January 18, 1915.

"this invention relates to mechanism for applyin a coatingto sheets of material, such as paper, and it is illustrated il'l-COHIlGC- tion with the labelingmachine described and claimed in the application referred to above.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the cl'iaracter named Which shall be of improved construction and operation. The invention is exemplified. inv the combination and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the following specification, and it is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. In tl1e(:lra\vings Figure l is a fragmentary side'elevation ci a portion of an automatic labeling ma- Clllillfl to Whichthe present invention is app led.

the machine shown in Fig. 1; and,

Figs. 3 and ti arevertioal sectional views taken on planes at right angles to one another of the suction-head forminga part of this invention.

.The labeling machine illustrated comprises a magazmel for holding; a stack oi thin sheets of material 2, which may be paper labels to be applied to various articles. din article to be so labeled 1s represented at El, resting on a supportingdevice i. The

- labels are extracted, one at otime, from the magazine l by a label-handling suction-head 5, illustrated in detail in F 3 and he illustrated, the luventijon 1s employed tor applying adhesives to the labels 2, but it should be understood thatit may be used for Fig. 9; a top plan vieW of a portion of rack 8 shown in the drawings for this purpose. The rack 8 drives a pinion 9, connected With a gear 10, which in turn meshes with a pinion 11 secured to the end of the roller 7. The rack 8 is reciprocated by any suitable mechanism, 7 not shown, and the gears 9 and 10 may be provided with ratchet .mechanism, if desired, for the purpose of driving the roller 7 always in one direction.

A scraper 12 is positioned adjacent the por tion of the roller 7 which projects above the receptacle 6 for the purpose of removing excess coating material from the roller. A. series of curved fingers 13 are secured a l' jaicent the roller 7, and are arranged with 'ioiuted ends bearing against the surface of the roller for the purpose of stripping sheets of material being coated from the surface of the roller.

The suction-head 5 is provided with a pair of screw-threaded openings 15 and 16 at its upper end, Which openings are connected 1' spectively with pipes 17 and 18, and these pipes are in turn respectively connected with suction and con'ipression mechanisn'l, not

shownin the drawings. The pipes 17 and 18 are carried on an arm 19, pivotally secured to an upright standard 20. The arm 19 is provided with a pair of sleeves 21 and 29/, through Which the pipes 17 and 18 are free to slide. A collar23 is secured to th'epipcs 17 and 18, and is provided with a laterally projecting stud 24:, which rests upona cam surface 25 carried at the end of an arm 26. The arm 26 is pivotally supported at 27 on the standard 20, and a link 98 is pivoted at 29 to the end ofthe'arin. Properly timed longitudinal reciprocation is imparted to the link 28 by cam mechanisms not shown in the drawings.v A link 30 is pivotally connected to the lower end of the arm 19 adjacent the sleeve 22, and the opposite 'endof the link 30 is pivotally connected at 31to the upper end of a lever'32, Which reciprocates about a pivotal support 33. The lever 32 is re ciprocatcd 1))"021111 mechanism in properly timed" relation with the operation of the other parts of the machine." By the combination of the vertical movement imparted to the head 5 by the arm 26, and of the horizontal movement imparted to the link 30,-

any desired motion may be given to the head for manipulating the sheets carried thereby. As shown n Figs. 3 and 4:, the suct1onill] head consists of a hollow casting 35, which is extended laterally at its lower end to form a wide bell or mouth portion 36. A thin plate 37, preferably of metal, covers the opening of the mouthportion 36, and 1s in turn covered on its lower surface by a comparatively thick sheet 88 of resilient fric tional material, such as rubber. Since-as is well known, such material does not take a polish, it will retain its yielding frictional property during use. coating 38 are provided with a plurality of perforations 39 extending into the interior of the suction-head and the two plates are re'movablysecured to thesuction head by screws as shown in the drawing so that plates with rubber coverings of different sizes and shapes, to conform to the different sized and shaped labels, maybe interchangeably secured to the head. A number of the perforations 39 are provided with connecting grooves 40 to assist in the operation of extracting the sheets from the magazine 1, as explained in my co-peuding application referred to above. A cone 'alve ll is located in the upper portion of the suctiorrhead for the purpose of connecting the interior of the head selectively with the pipes 17 and 18. The valve is held in place by a. spring 42, and is operated by a crank 43, which carries a cam roller 4:4, and which is normally held inposition to connect the interior of the suctionhead with thesuction pipe 17 by a spring 45. Below the valve 41, the suctionhead carries a laterally projecting hollow cylinder 46, which communicates with the interior of the suctioirhead. A piston 47 is fitted within the cylinder 46 forming an airtight sliding connection therewith; A coil spring 48 normally presses the piston i7 outwardly in the cylinder a6. The piston l7 carries a short rod 4:55, which is provided with a cam rolle-r d9 at its outer end. The

- rod 48 is guided by a cover plate 0 secured to the outer end of the cylinder 46, but arranged to permit passage of air between the interior of the-cylinder outside of the piston 47 and the external atmosphere. A plug 51 is threaded into the interior of the suction head to intercept any liquid, such as oil, that may drain downwardly. in the head. Passages 52 provided with ball valves 53 are arranged to drain the oil from the interior of the suction-head to wells or reservoirs 54 provided in the casting 35. These wells may be filled with waste, or similar material, for absorbing the oil. A groove or trench 55 extends around the suction-head to intercept oil that may drain down the exterior of the casting, and to direct the oil thus intercepted to the wells 54. A tripping member or cam track 56 is supported by the upright 20, and extends into a osition to cooperate with the cam roller 414: when the suction-head 5 is lowered into position upon the article 3 to The plate 37 and the sheets 2 from the stack.

bracket 58 in a position above the coating roller 7. As Wlll be seen from Fig. 2, the

track 57 is so located that the cam roller l9 will be directly abovethe track when the roll is held in its outer position by the spring 48. When the spring i8 is compressed, the roll 49 will be sufliciently retracted to permit descentof the suction-head 5 without the roll coming into contact with the track 57. The operation of the device is as follows The magazine 1 is supplied with sheets 2 to be coated, and the cam mechanism is set into operation to movev the suction-head 5. The head moves first to the magazine where it lifts by suctionthe uppermost one of the The head is then carried upwardly and forwardly, the valve 41 being held by the spring 45 in position to maintain connection between the head and the suction pipe 18. The headis car ried forward to a position beyond the coating roller 7, and is then moved-downwardly to a position on a level with or slightly be low the surface of the roller 7. The head is then drawn backwardly by the link 30 to move the sheet of material over the roller 7 in contact therewith, and thus apply the coating to the entire under surface of the sheet. Any tendency of the sheet to adhere totheroller is overcome by the fingers 18 which bear against the surface of .the roller and prevent the sheet from adl'iering thereto. WVhen the head has reached a position above the article 3, it is then lowered and the sheet discharged onto the article to be labeled, after which the head returns to the magazine for a second. sheet.

During the period of the operation in which a sheet is carried by the suction-head, the interior of the suction-head will be shut off from the outer atmosphere by the sheet which covers the perforations 39. As a result a partial vacuum will be formed within the head. by the suction mechanism, and while this vacuum is maintained, the pressure of the atmosphere on the outer surface of the pistonAG will compress the spring 48 and hold the cam roller 49 in its retracted position. Because of this fact, the head is permitted to move downwardly a suiiicient amount to bring the sheet into contact with the coating roller 7. If it should happen at any-time that the device fails to extract a sheet from the magazine, or if the sheet lifted is not properly placed upon the suctionhead, the openings 89 will not be closed, and

llO'

have connection with the outer atmosphere. Under this condition there will be no vacuum within. the head, and hence the spring 48 will hold the roller d9 in its outer position. When under these conditions the head 5 is lowered over the coating roller 7, the

cam roller 49 will strike the upper surface of the track. 57 and prevent the head from contacting with the surface of the roller. In this way the lifting surface of the suction-head is prevented from being smeared with the coating material when it is not protected by a sheet to be coated. The coating operation is great] y assisted by the nature of the coating 38 on the holding surface of the suction-head.- Since this coating is resilient, it holds every portion of the sheet in contact with the surface of the roller, so that the entire surface of the sheet is uniformly coated. The frictional nature of the holding surface of the coating 38 is also important, since it prevents any slipping of the paper on the suction-head as the sheet is moved. over the coatingtroller, This is important where substances, such as niucilage are used for coating the sheet, since the sticky character of the inucilage tends to cause the sheet to adhere to the roller and thus slide the sheet on the suction-head as the head moves forwardly, (lonnection between the coating 38 and the upper surface'of the sheet prevents any such sliding action.

1. In a coating machine, a holder having a yielding frictional surface arranged to con tact with an article to be coated, means for .enhausting air from between said surface and an article held thereagainst to cause atmospheric pressure to force said article against said. surface, a device for applying coating. material, and means for moving said holder and said applying device relative to one another while one sideof the article on said holder contacts with said applying device and the other side of said article is held against said frictional surface and is prevented thereby from movement over the surface of said holder.

2. ln a coating machine, a device having a frictional surface for holding an article to be coated, said surface being formed by a substaiuzially continuous covering of yield ing material capable of clinging to a surface along which it is moved, means for exhausting air from betweensaid surface and an article held thereagainstto cause atmospheric pressure to force said article against said surface, adevice for applying coating material, andv means for moving said. devices relative to one another with an article to be coated in position therebetween and held in place on said holding device during said relative movement by atmospheric pressure and the clinging action of said cover.

3. In a coating machine, a holder having its holding surface substantially covered Wlth yielding frictional mater1al having perforations therethrough, means for exhausting air from said surface through said perforations to cause an article to adhere to while a sheet of material to be coated is held' between said holder and said applying dc vice, said frictional surface being formed by a substantial continuous covering of rubber haying perforations therethrough.

cl. In combination, a sheet'carrier, a glue roll, having a stationary axis, the surface of which. roll is arranged to be brought into contact with a sheet on said carrier by movement of said carrier, means for rotating said glue roll, means for regulating the amount of adhesive material on the surface of said roll, and means for automatically modifying the movement. of said carrier when there is no sheet on said carrier.

In a coating machine, a sheet-carrier, suction mechanism for causing sheets to be held by said carrier, a roll for applying coating material, and a frictional surface on said carrier for preventing slipping of a sheet carried thereby, saidfrictional surface being formed by a substantially continuous covering of rubber having perforations therctlirough communicating with said suction mechanism.

(l. in a coating device, a coating roller, a sheet-carricr, suction mechanism for causing a sheet to be held on said carrier, means for passing said roller over a sheet on said.

caia'ier, and means for preventing slipping of said sheet on said carrier comprising a perforated rubber covering for the sheet cngaging surface of said carrier, the perforations in said carrier being arranged to communicate with said suction mechanism.

' i". In a coating machine, a suction device for handling articles, means for supplying material for coating said articles, mechanism for moving said device relative to said supplying means, a stop carried by said suction device controlled, by the degree of vacuum in said suction device, and means arranged to cooperate with said step to control the movement of said suct on device while said device continues to move.

8. In a coating machine, a lifter for articles to be carried, means for supplying material for coating said articles, mechanism for moving said lifter relative to said supplying ineans,a stop carriedby said. lifter, means for cooperating with said stop to guide the movement of said lifter, and means for controlling the position of said step dcpendingupon the operation of said. lifter.

9. In a coating machine, a lifter for articles to loo-coated, means for supplying material for coating an article carried by said lifter, mechanism for moving said lifter relative to said supplying means, a stop carried by said lifter, a guide arranged to cooperate with said stop to control the movement of said lifter, means for holding said stop in one positi'on. when an article is carried by said. lifter, and means for holding said stop in another position when no article is carried by said lifter.

10. Ina coating machine, a suction' -head for handling articles to be coated, means for supplying material for coating articles carried by said suction head, mechanism for moving said suction head relative to said. supplying means, and a plunger carried by said suction-head adapted to be forced i'nwardly by atmospheric pressure against the action of a resilient member and a horizontally movable guide stop for sald suctioir head carried by said plunger.-

11. In a coating machine, a suction-headfor handling articles to be coated, means for supplying material for coatingsaid ar ticles, mechanism for moving said suctionhead relative to said material supplyin means, a plunger on said suction hea adapted to be forced inwardly by atmospheric pressure when an article is carried by said suction-head, and resilient means for forcingsaid plunger outwardly when no article is carried by said suction-head, and a horizontally movable guide stop for said suction-head carried by said plunger.

12. In combination, a suction .carrier for sheets to be coated, a roller having a fixed axis of rotation for applylng adhesive to a sheet on said carrier, ratchet mechanism for driving said roller and. arranged to permit movement of said roller in one direction at a greater rate of speed than that imparted by said ratchet mechanism, means for moving said carrier along a path tobring a sheet thereon into engagement with said roller; and a stop on. said carrier controlled by ,the degree of vacuum therein for modi fying the movement of said carrier so that said carrier will not engage said roller when no sheet is carried thereby. j

13. I11 a coating machine, a device for applying coating material, a suctiomcarrier, a cam track, a stop on said suction-carrier, and means controlled by the degree of vacuum in said suction-carrier for moving said stop into and out of position to contact with said cam track.

14. In a coating machine, a source for supplying articles to be coated, mechanism for applying coating material, a vacuum stop into position to contact with said cam emma pressing said sheets thereagainst, and means for automatically preventing such pressure in the absence of a sheet to be coated.

16. In combination, a coating roller, means having a substantially continuous yielding friction surface for pressing a sheet of material against said roller and for moving said sheet in contact therewith to bring the entire surface of one side thereof against said roller, and mechanism for holding said press ng means away from said roller dur- 111g an operation 111 which no sheet 1s 1nterposed between said roller and said pressing means.

17. In a coat ng machine, a roller, means for periodically passing said roller for mov- 1ng\,a sheet of materlal thereover in contact therewith, and means for driving'said roller in the direction of movement of said sheet,' said driving-meansbeing'arranged to permit movement of said roller in said direction independent of said driving means.

18. In a coating machine, a roller, cam actuated means arranged to periodically pass roller and move it thereon, and an intermittent one-way drive for said roller.

19. In a coating machine, a roller, irregularly moving means arranged to periodically pass said roller and pressthe surface of material to be coated over said roller in contact therewith, and ratchet mechanism arranged to drive said roller in the direction of movement ofsaid surface and to permit movement of said roller in said direction independent of said mechanism.

20. In combination, a coating roll, a suction carrier for moving sheets of material in contact with said roll, said carrier having a surface for holding said sheets which has greater frictional resistance to the said roller and press a sheet against said movement of a sheet thereover than that v offered by the coating roll with the coating material thereon.

21. In comblnation, a coating roll, and

a suction carrier for moving sheets of ma lmving :1 rolnnvzlbio plate of frictional nm- In [antimony whereof I have signed my lm'inl riflfilll'wl iilmrclin for engaging; said nznnn 110 11111.24 spm-ific: firm on this 20th day 10 shvuls. 1 U 1 0;]? October, A. D. 191.6.

14-. En connination, a marin 11-0 am 7, l I 1' P p 1 :L suction van-rim. for moving shEet-s 0% nm- MHJMUIQ' tul'infl in mntnct with said 1-011, said carrier imosses: having; :1 shout engagingnmwber made of Fun!) G. BROOKS, sniff. l'nbhur rmnnvably secured thereto. G. J. BECKER. 

